Vice President Al Gore, who would dearly like to erase the "vice" from his title next year, finished off a swing through California Monday doing what every presidential candidate does: throw money at influential special interests.
In this case, the special interest is high tech, and the amount is US$400 million that Gore says the Clinton administration will ask Congress to appropriate for upgrading the global positioning system. That followed his promise Sunday to seek $366 million for funding technology research.
GPS, which began as a satellite network to pinpoint the exact location of ships and planes, is now widely used in Silicon Valley for a variety of commercial and scientific purposes.
The money would be used to provide GPS satellites with two new signals to extend their use.
With California a leading high technology state, Gore's proposal for additional high-tech funding was delivered to a receptive audience. The money, he said, would make "whole new galaxies of products, once inconceivable, available to us."
Although Gore has not declared himself a candidate for president -- he ducked the issue with reporters in San Francisco Monday -- that is considered a mere formality. He tops virtually every list of viable Democratic candidates. And as every viable candidate knows, you'd better win in California if you want to live in the White House.
